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Capture of Thanjavur (1773)

VictorEast India Company and the Nawab of ArcotGeneral Joseph Smith; Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah
1773vs
Maratha kingdom of ThanjavurRaja Tuljaji

The Nawab of Arcot, deep in debt to Company men in Madras, used Company troops to seize the rich Kaveri delta kingdom of the Bhonsle Rajas of Thanjavur.

Date: August – September 1773Where: Thanjavur fort, Tamil NaduType: Siege
Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0
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Cite

MLA

“Capture of Thanjavur (1773).” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/capture-of-thanjavur-1773/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Capture of Thanjavur (1773). Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/capture-of-thanjavur-1773/

Result

The fort was stormed in September 1773 and Raja Tuljaji made prisoner; the Nawab held Thanjavur until the Company’s directors ordered the Raja restored in 1776.

01The Nawab’s claim

Thanjavur had been ruled since 1676 by a Maratha line founded by Ekoji, Shivaji’s half-brother, and its Rajas were great patrons of the Brihadeeswara temple, of music and of Sanskrit and Tamil learning. The Nawab of Arcot claimed tribute from it and coveted the rice lands of the delta. His creditors in Madras, Company servants who had lent him vast sums, wanted Thanjavur’s revenue for their repayment. In 1771 a first Company expedition forced Tuljaji to pay.

02Storm and restoration

In 1773 the Madras council sent General Joseph Smith against Thanjavur again. The army broke ground before the walls in August, breached them, and stormed the fort in September. Tuljaji and his family were taken prisoner and the Nawab moved in. The seizure caused an uproar in London, and the Directors ordered the Raja put back. In April 1776 Lord Pigot, the new Governor of Madras, restored Tuljaji, and his own council arrested Pigot for it.

Why it matters

The affair laid bare the corruption of the Nawab’s debts at Madras; Thanjavur survived as a Maratha kingdom until Serfoji II handed its government to the Company in 1799.

Places 1

Brihadeeswara Temple, ThanjavurStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Brihadeeswara Temple, Thanjavur

Rajaraja Chola’s Rajarajeshvaram, finished in the 25th year of his reign, with a granite vimana about 66 m high. A thousand years on, its walls still carry the king’s own record of every gift and every servant of the temple.

Places near the battlefield 8

Thanjai Mamanikoil (Neelamegha, Manikundra and Veera Narasimha Perumal), ThanjavurStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Thanjai Mamanikoil (Neelamegha, Manikundra and Veera Narasimha Perumal), Thanjavur

Three small temples on the Vennar, a short walk apart, that the Alvars praised as one: Mamanikoil, Manikundram and Thanjaiyali Nagar. The katha of the asura Tanjakan gives Thanjavur its name.

Vasishteswarar Temple, Thenkudi ThittaiStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Vasishteswarar Temple, Thenkudi Thittai

The raised mound north of Thanjavur that stood above the pralaya waters, where Maharshi Vasishtha worshipped and Guru stands in his own shrine. Sambandar sang it.

Brahma Sira Kandeeswarar Temple, TirukkandiyurStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Brahma Sira Kandeeswarar Temple, Tirukkandiyur

The Veerattanam where Shiva, as Bhairava, took off the fifth head of Brahma. Appar and Sambandar sang it, and across the road stands the Divya Desam of Hara Shaapa Vimochana Perumal.

Hara Saba Vimochana Perumal Temple, ThirukkandiyurStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Hara Saba Vimochana Perumal Temple, Thirukkandiyur

The Perumal who freed Hara, Shiva himself, from the skull of Brahma that clung to his hand. Kandiyur stands between Thanjavur and Thiruvaiyaru, with the Shiva temple of the same katha close by.

Atmanatheswarar Temple, TiruvalampozhilStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Atmanatheswarar Temple, Tiruvalampozhil

A west-facing village temple near Tiruvaiyaru, which Appar called Parambaikudi. Appar sang it.

Pushpavananathar Temple, TiruppoonthuruthiStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Pushpavananathar Temple, Tiruppoonthuruthi

The sixth of Tiruvaiyaru’s Saptasthanam shrines, where Appar lived in a matha, and where he carried the young Sambandar’s palanquin. Appar sang it in three hymns.

Vedapureeswarar Temple, TiruvedikudiStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Vedapureeswarar Temple, Tiruvedikudi

The abode of the Vedas near Tiruvaiyaru, where the four Vedas did tapas and Vinayaka leans in to listen. Appar and Sambandar sang it.

Neyyadiyappar Temple, Tiruneithanam (Tillaisthanam)Standing
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Neyyadiyappar Temple, Tiruneithanam (Tillaisthanam)

The seventh of Tiruvaiyaru’s Saptasthanam shrines, where the linga is bathed in ghee. Its inscriptions run from a Pandya grant of the ninth century through the Cholas; Appar and Sambandar sang it.